Shadow report - The implementation of the Roma Strategy in the Republic of Macedonia for 2016 and 2017

The Strategy and the national action plans are to be revised, both with regard to their essence and their technique.

The budget implications related to the implementation of the subprograms seldom reflect the needs. Rather than this, they represent a reflection of political bargaining power, and in conditions of a systemic lack of adequate systems for performance monitoring (both in terms of budgeting - performance budgeting and in terms of implementation - performance measurement), it is essential to establish a system for monitoring the level of implementation of the Strategy, that is, the achievements and outcomes.

The institutional positioning for coordination, implementation and monitoring of the Roma Strategy along with the National Action Plans has not been an efficient mechanism for monitoring the progress of the priorities for a long period due to a number of reasons, such as the lack of an internal monitoring system, a vague system of responsibility and accountability, powerless coordination among the ministries in the process of implementation and political support.

The National Coordinative Body with an expired mandate does not function operatively, and does not have clear guidelines and power to make changes, thus its role of monitoring and providing guidance for improvement is not fulfilled.

The civil sector is not familiar with the possibility of participating in the NCB nor with the manner of nomination and selection of its members. The members of the institutions are usually long-term members who are also not familiar with the duration of their mandate and state that the meetings of this coordinative body basically indicate and describe situations without a possibility to overcome the obstacles and the challenges (inter alia the necessity of increased funding as well).

A segment of the measures in the national action plans in all priority areas depends on the opportunities of the civil sector, but also on donor funds, which makes the process disorganized, difficult to monitor and creates an environment with a lack of responsibility